MAVS NEWS:

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

[Curtis] Daniel Gafford told me he got hit in the head last night & it caused his neck to jam up. He said his left arm numbed & he couldn’t feel anything. Said he probably should’ve played through it. I asked if he’ll be available for Thursday’s game in Boston: “I’ll be on the floor.”

[SleepingHero]

Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth)
Dallas Mavericks Injury Report vs. Boston Celtics:

Anthony Davis: Questionable (Abdominal Muscle Strain)
Dereck Lively II: Out (Right Ankle Stress Fracture)
P.J. Washington: Out (Personal Reasons)
Dwight Powell: Out (Right Hip Strain)
Caleb Martin: Out (Trade Pending)

[fifteenth]

Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth)
Dallas Mavericks Injury Report vs. Boston Celtics:

Anthony Davis: Questionable (Abdominal Muscle Strain)
Dereck Lively II: Out (Right Ankle Stress Fracture)
P.J. Washington: Out (Personal Reasons)
Dwight Powell: Out (Right Hip Strain)
Caleb Martin: Out (Trade Pending)

P.J. Washington: OUT (Had become a Mavs fan himself and is suffering the heart break that the rest of us are suffering)

[fifteenth]

I gotta say something else about The Basketball Terrorist.

So, the reason Luka was working through this latest injury with "his team," is because over the past couple of years Nico has fired everyone on the Mavs staff who used to work with Luka, who Luka liked. Nico's strategy for helping Luka to learn to take care of himself was just to fire people that Luka worked well with. What a horrible, clueless strategy!

Nico, you were the wrong guy to try to help Luka make progress.

[audiosway]

I gotta say something else about The Basketball Terrorist.

So, the reason Luka was working through this latest injury with "his team," is because over the past couple of years Nico has fired everyone on the Mavs staff who used to work with Luka, who Luka liked. Nico's strategy for helping Luka to learn to take care of himself was just to fire people that Luka worked well with. What a horrible, clueless strategy!

Nico, you were the wrong guy to try to help Luka make progress.

And all of a sudden the Mavs are missing more players due to injury than the previous couple of decades with Casey Smith and his team there.

[audiosway]

Dwight Powell: Out (Right Hip Strain)

How do you strain your hip sitting on the bench?

[audiosway]

P.J. Washington: OUT (Had become a Mavs fan himself and is suffering the heart break that the rest of us are suffering)

His wife had a baby. That's why he is out.

[fifteenth]

His wife had a baby. That's why he is out.

oh, yeah, well... that too

[greenhornSLO]

Rob Pelinka brought additional help to Lukas in the Lakers.....Mark Williams - Charlotte (average this season 16 points, almost 10 rebounds) but....of course.....

Nico is the winner (defense wins)!  And terrorist!

[Chicagojk]

I just don't see what Nico's big vision is. Lets bypass the Luka mistake for now. Right now we have an expensive, older team who appears to be stuck in the middle. BTW, I don't think this team makes the playoffs. Too many changes and such a drastic move. To me, Nico has to think there is another big move. I don't see it now, but maybe summer. I thought it would be Lebron when the Lakers shifted into Luka's timeline. I think that is doubtful now. So that leaves KD over the summer. Making it work and satisfying the Suns is really difficult and I am not sure that is even the right short term path. Although as we stand the Mavs appear stuck. Two excellent Robin's....maybe two of the best in the league. Although almost every playoff series we enter now we won't have the best player in the series. Right now, we could have a solid team, but nothing near a contender. With teams getting better and young teams on the rise, he tap dance is going to be so tricky. Not an ideal spot.

[omahen]

I just don't see what Nico's big vision is.  Lets bypass the Luka mistake for now.  Right now we have an expensive, older team who appears to be stuck in the middle.    BTW, I don't think this team makes the playoffs.  Too many changes and such a drastic move.  To me, Nico has to think there is another big move.    I don't see it now, but maybe summer.  I thought it would be Lebron when the Lakers shifted into Luka's timeline.  I think that is doubtful now.  So that leaves KD over the summer.  Making it work and satisfying the Suns is really difficult and I am not sure that is even the right short term path.  Although as we stand the Mavs appear stuck.  Two excellent Robin's....maybe two of the best in the league.  Although almost every playoff series we enter now we won't have the best player in the series.  Right now, we could have a solid team, but nothing near a contender.  With teams getting better and young teams on the rise, he tap dance is going to be so tricky.    Not an ideal spot.

Mavs biggest problem imho is, that all offensive creation will be on Irving now, unless they do something else today. They could of course try to unburden him through Exum and SD, but I don't think this is a very good path. If Kyrie will be forced to play 40 minutes per game for Mavs to be competitive, I am affraid if his body can handle it. If he gets injured just for a couple of weeks, it could end all Mavs chances for this season, as West will be really brutal. "There is always next season" is not exactly something for an aging team to look forward to. 

It is of course a very short time frame, but current effect of THE trade imho had a very clear impact on both teams. Lakers looked rejuvinated, full of hope, full of energy in their first game after THE trade. LeBron + AD story was a dead end getting them nowhere and THE trade brings hope. I don't think they are a contender now, but I think they have more of a chance as they had before. Mavs on the other hand are at least currently shell shocked and full of questions, if this really is the right path. First game after THE trade was a disaster. Second one went better, but still ended in a loss despite Philly being a very average opponent, having a gazillion problems of their own. Winning cures everything, but it needs to start soon. Tough game against Boston today, followed by a first home game (against Houston) after THE trade, that will likely be full of "side events". More being about consequences and emotions related to THE trade than about the game itself. Win against Boston tonight would really mean a lot for Dallas, imho.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Mavs biggest problem imho is, that all offensive creation will be on Irving now, unless they do something else today. They could of course try to unburden him through Exum and SD, but I don't think this is a very good path. If Kyrie will be forced to play 40 minutes per game for Mavs to be competitive, I am afraid if his body can handle it. 

I agree

I am hoping for another playmaker, although looking at the salary situations it is hard to come up with a lot of trades.  Our mid sized contracts are Klay, PJ, and Gafford.  Not sure any of them are available right now.

(although PJ did miss a second straight game after the birth of his child)

[Chicagojk]

Yeah, the whole Kyrie thing is an issue. He was in the perfect role with Luka. He is not a table setter or a guy who you run everything through for a whole game. He is a cold blooded scorer. A guy who picks his spots and gets 25-30 points in explosive bursts. Asking him to carry the burden on creation, getting other shots and being your main scorer is recipe for disappointment. Not even mentioning the injury concerns with those heavy lifting.

I mean Dallas is not a threat to OKC now, but OkC would throw so many people at him that would wear him down and practically make our offense stuck in mud.

[Jmaciscool]

I just don't see what Nico's big vision is.  Lets bypass the Luka mistake for now.  Right now we have an expensive, older team who appears to be stuck in the middle.    BTW, I don't think this team makes the playoffs.  Too many changes and such a drastic move.  To me, Nico has to think there is another big move.    I don't see it now, but maybe summer.  I thought it would be Lebron when the Lakers shifted into Luka's timeline.  I think that is doubtful now.  So that leaves KD over the summer.  Making it work and satisfying the Suns is really difficult and I am not sure that is even the right short term path.  Although as we stand the Mavs appear stuck.  Two excellent Robin's....maybe two of the best in the league.  Although almost every playoff series we enter now we won't have the best player in the series.  Right now, we could have a solid team, but nothing near a contender.  With teams getting better and young teams on the rise, he tap dance is going to be so tricky.    Not an ideal spot.

I was wondering this too, but I think we're mistakenly trying to figure out Nico from a basketball perspective.  I don't think he is interested in being in the GM role long term at all and cares nothing about the Mavs.  Instead, he's using this role as a stepping stone into an executive role in a large corporation.  Making the cut throat tough decision to trade Luka no matter what blowback he gets probably looks pretty appealing to a large corporation that needs to hire someone to make unpopular decisions.  Nico's shown that he has no problem with that, most likely because he has no soul.

[F Gump]

Mavs biggest problem imho is, that all offensive creation will be on Irving now, unless they do something else today.

Thank you. That's the bottom line, and it's a significant issue that needs to be resolved if the Mavs are to have any SERIOUS chance of being a contender. Kyrie is a bit miscast as a PG and much better (elite, in fact) being a secondary creator playing off the ball.

I am hoping for a solution before the TDL. Getting a bigger, stronger, offense-creating PG is the answer. If he can defend, that would be helpful too. But those guys are hard to find, so I suspect I'm just wishful thinking.

[U_L]

On Nico's big vision: I understand the fear of not wanting to end up like New Orleans, where basketball and trade values of Zion are way below what they were before his weight and injuries dominated his story. And I understand the logic of how Davis is supposed to fit here. But on a whole, how often has Nico's team building approach really paid off from a business perspective? Were the Clippers or Nets better off after acquiring some just beyond their prime all stars for a superteam? Is the bottom line better for Denver and Milwaukee after building around homegrown stars with shortcomings? Was Boston better off bringing in Kyrie and Hayward or building around Brown and Tatum? To me this approach is nuts. It's rare to pull in a collection of stars this way, and when you do, you have a very limited window to hope it all clicks before you have to try again, and you get very little buy in and good will from fans. Maybe none of that is as important if your goal is to get fans hooked on gambling.

[SleepingHero]

Thank you. That's the bottom line, and it's a significant issue that needs to be resolved if the Mavs are to have any SERIOUS chance of being a contender. Kyrie is a bit miscast as a PG and much better (elite, in fact) being a secondary creator playing off the ball.

I am hoping for a solution before the TDL. Getting a bigger, stronger, offense-creating PG is the answer. If he can defend, that would be helpful too. But those guys are hard to find, so I suspect I'm just wishful thinking.

So Ben Simmons is who you’re describing.

6’10. Offensive creator to a fault for others. Big. Strong. Can defend.

Should also be bought out.

[GermanMav]

I somehow hope they stay put the next 3 hours and the next Kyrie injury puts them in place for a top 10 pick in this stagged draft. A nice rookie alongside D-Live would at least somehow keep me invested for the future.

[KillerLeft]

I somehow hope they stay put the next 3 hours and the next Kyrie injury puts them in place for a top 10 pick in this stagged draft. A nice rookie alongside D-Live would at least somehow keep me invested for the future.

Another Dereck Lively score (only not a center, obviously) might be the best case scenario at this point. I mean, it's not like the core of the team is old...

Oh, right.

[GermanMav]

Yeah, this team is doomed for years to come, but seeing Lively and another great rookie develope together would at least be some fun. And this draft would probably be the last one for years where they could draft in the lottery.